Hangover or not, the day’s plan was to ride to Fire Island, about two hundred miles in the wrong direction, and for what? To get some pictures of the Fire Island Lighthouse of course! The weather was unusually nice, a rarity when Rain Cloud Follows is on the road. After some trouble getting up from the previous night’s excesses, and a few choice promises to a few choice deities to never again do whatever caused all that morning’s pain ever again, MiniAbi and I were headed to Long Island.

Long Island is confusing. Even with a GPS, a paper map and a divining rod, hell, even if I had Magellan in my tankbag instead of a stupid little plastic guy, I still would get lost like a little baby squirrel in that maze of a place.

So I backtracked, U-turned and otherwise floundered and stumbled my way to Fire Island. When I got there, the access road to the lighthouse was closed, of course. The lighthouse looked to be about a half mile away, so I decided to park at the beach and walk. This decision would have definitely been different had I not been riding alone. But wait, I wasn’t really alone. What about MiniAbi?

MiniAbi decided to stay and hang out at the beach. Frustrating. If only there was something I could do, some way to get through to this guy that by constantly vetoing everything, he’s constantly missing out.

The half mile walk ended up being closer to two miles, and I was tired and hungry when I reached the lighthouse. A ranger was standing outside the building grilling hamburgers. I walked up to him and offered him twenty bucks for one, I was so hungry. No vegetarians in this party! He looked at me like I was nuts, but changed his tune when I pulled out the money.

That was the best, most expensive hamburger I’ve ever eaten!

Fire Island Lighthouse

And the lighthouse wasn’t too shabby either. They offered a tour to the top, which normally I would take. But it was about twenty million stairs to the top, so, since nobody was there to call me a pussy, I passed and checked out the gift shop instead.

In the gift shop, I found what I considered the perfect gift to make MiniAbi appreciate lighthouses. And when I found him sleeping on the beach, I gave it to him before he woke up.

A lighthouse tattoo on the back of his head. If that doesn’t make him appreciate lighthouses, nothing will.

I told him it was time to go, but he refused. He wanted to stay and enjoy the scenery.

Wow. A seagull on a sign. Thrilling.

No. Not THAT scenery… THIS scenery:

MiniAbi, you may have a point there…

But we had a schedule to keep, and a maze to re-navigate to get off Long Island, a feat that would probably take up the rest of the afternoon. I had to drag MiniAbi away from the beach. OK, truth be told, he had to drag ME away… but in any case we left the natural beauty of Fire Island for the coast of New Jersey.

Most of the remainder of the day was spent alternating between the Garden State Parkway and some fun little back roads.

It got late far too early. The fun roads, while fun, were left in order to get some distance in. We were racing the sunset to make it to Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, the final lighthouse for the day. Hammering paid off, and the beautiful sunset was worth the boring slog.

Barnegat Light – Long Beach Island, NJ

It was getting dark, so I didn’t take the time to stage a ‘disaster’ for MiniAbi. But my little tattoo gift must have helped him appreciate lighthouses a bit, because he picked the most sanitationally questionable hotel for the night, most likely because of the sign.

Granted it was the only hotel on the whole island with a vacancy. The lesson to be learned here is when there is only one room available in a whole area, there’s probably a reason it’s not booked, right?

The bed wasn’t new in 1984, there was not one but TWO broken refrigerators strewn about the floor. The rats were too afraid of all the cockroaches to cause much of a disturbance. It wasn’t really that bad, but it was pretty close. MiniAbi and I flipped a coin to see who got to sleep in the tankbag.

I lost.

I’ve never been so happy for morning to come, and we were on the road early. I wanted to see two final lighthouses before boarding the Cape May ferry and hammering the rest of the way into Washington DC.

We stopped for breakfast, and I found out my little tattoo trick definitely worked. While I was enjoying my coffee, MiniAbi disappeared once again. I found him across the street, and I couldn’t believe what he was doing.

I should have bought another tattoo for MaxiAbi.

He sure could’ve used it in Nova Scotia.

Atlantic City has a lighthouse. I know, I couldn’t believe it either, but it does. Absecon Lighthouse, located blocks from the casinos is actually the tallest in New Jersey, at 171 feet. This lighthouse also has an amazing first order Fresnel lens, which is still completely intact.

Because I didn’t have to walk two miles to get there, I decided to climb all 228 stairs and see the lens. The interior of the lighthouse was beautiful.

The lens was amazing to see. Yes, at this point in the trip I am excited about a lighthouse lens. Thank God Fiona will be joining me next week!

From the top of Absecon, I could see thick, dark clouds massing in the distance. I hurried down the stairs two at a time to try and beat the oncoming storm, but it did no good. The rain clouds that were following Rain Cloud Follows caught up, and it started to rain. Hard.

Rain Cloud Follows under a bridge – it must be raining!

The storm was quick but thorough. Everything was drenched. I thought I was going to drown for a while at the lightning flashed and thunder boomed. A waterlogged MiniAbi even lost his smile, for a while. Then, just as suddenly as it started, the rain stopped. I stopped at a rest area to put some dry socks and underwear on.

My jacket forms a puddle.

The skies remained dark, but there was one final lighthouse on the way to the ferry that I wanted to see. Hopefully the clouds would hold off long enough for me to get my final pictures of this final lighthouse.

Right. Look at that sky. There is no chance the rain would hold off. That’s why the bike is called Rain Cloud Follows.

Cape May Lighthouse – Cape May, NJ

It didn’t. But you can’t get wetter than soaked, which I already was, so I was OK with it.

We made the ferry, and the last hundred miles to Washington slid by, uneventful and lighthouse free. At this point in the epic journey, MiniAbi went home – to make room for Fiona, who will be meeting me in Baltimore on Wednesday.

Thanks for a great trip, MiniAbi! I’m sure we’ll ride again!

Author: frenchy